Today, I had the opportunity to view Jos Sances’ mural titled “Or, The Whale.” (Pictures below)

It was absolutely amazing and I wanted to share it with you.

I got to see this masterpiece in person at the Mystic Seaport Museum and wanted to share a few mind-blowing facts about what you are looking at:

• The Scale: A true-to-life representation of a female sperm whale, measuring 51 feet long by 14 feet high.

• The Craft: Composed of 119 hand-scratched panels that took the artist eight months of daily, intense labor to complete.

• The Hidden Story: If you zoom into the skin of the whale, it isn't just texture. It is a dense, etched timeline charting the rise of industrialization, capitalism, and human impact on our planet since the 19th century.

Sances cleverly juxtaposes the history of the whaling industry—America's original fossil fuel addiction—with modern environmental themes. Check out the images below to see the incredible detail.